


Brandy by the Embers

by CaesiumDressing



Series: Huxloween 2017: Huxloween Rides Again [6]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Bonfire, Drinking, Huxloween, M/M, Snoke is dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-09 23:35:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12286590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaesiumDressing/pseuds/CaesiumDressing
Summary: Kylo Ren and General Hux share a bottle of brandy next to the dying embers of a fire.





	Brandy by the Embers

Kylo Ren stared into the dying embers and took another long draught of Corellian brandy before passing it back to General Hux. They had been here, sitting in silence and watching the fire burn down for hours. When they had set the blaze no words had passed between them, and even now there felt as if there was nothing to say.

“This is the start of it all, you know,” Hux stated, wiping his mouth with the back of a gloved hand. Kylo Ren started, not having expected any words from the man. The brandy was pushed back into his hand. Without giving Hux a sideways glance he took another draught.

“I suppose,” Kylo grumbled. What they had done here had felt like the end of many things. Kylo had removed his helmet and sat at the edge of the blaze just as Hux had touched it off. Hux had dropped the remaining bottles of brandy next to them and taken a seat as well, listening to the crackling of the flames. Kylo passed the bottle back to Hux.

Hux took the last swig, coughed, and threw the now empty bottle into the dying blaze. As it shattered there was another flare of flames around it, the high-proof alcohol igniting.

“You don’t regret it, do you?” Hux asked, still not really looking at Kylo, just watching the destruction they had wrought. He still sounded distant. As distant as he did when he had entered the throne room to see Kylo standing in the center of the circle of dead and dying Knights of Ren. Just beyond the group was the dead body of supreme leader Snoke and the ruins of his praetorian guard.

“We need to destroy this whole complex,” was all Hux had said, Kylo had turned to him and nodded feeling far away from all of the carnage at his feet. He’d followed Hux out into the night to help plant the charges and set the fires.

“Never,” Kylo said, turning to Hux who was still staring into the fire eyes unfocused. “You?”

“No,” he said, twisting behind them and digging out the last bottle of brandy from the crate behind them. “But I didn’t expect it to be so easy. Nor to feel so hollow,” he grumbled popping the last bottle open and taking a great gulp of it. He passed it to Kylo, catching eyes with him.

“I thought it’d be a great battle and I’d feel so vindicated standing with that dead monster at our feet, but I don’t even feel relieved,” he added.

“Well,” Kylo responded, keeping his eyes on Hux’s as he drank from the bottle himself. “We are now the heads of the First Order. There is nothing to be relieved about.” He offered the bottle back. Hux took it and turned back to the fire.

“The crushing weight of responsibility was always something I enjoyed,” Hux quipped. “But we’ve been running the Order for so long already, I suppose it’s just I was thinking Snoke would be harder to kill. Or put up much more of a fight.” Hux gulped from the bottle again, coughing as he finished.  He offered the bottle back to Kylo, he took it.

“He was old, and not nearly as strong as he was when I came to him the first time,” Kylo observed before bringing the bottle to his lips. “He was going to die soon if I didn’t allow him to absorb my life force.” Kylo offered the bottle to Hux but when he didn’t take it back Kylo noticed Hux was staring at him hard. He turned and met his gaze.

“He was going to eat you,” Hux hissed, eyes narrowed with rage building around him. It was so bright that Kylo could almost see it.

“Not literally,” he stated, shaking the bottle at Hux. Hux snatched it and took a swig, not letting his eyes leave Kylo’s face. “He would have absorbed my energy to prolong his life as he has been doing for thousands of years.” Kylo shrugged.

“You say that like it’s natural,” Hux sneered, pushing the bottle at Kylo. Kylo took it and took another drink. “You didn’t even warn me,” he sniffed.

As Kylo pulled the bottle away from his lips he marveled at Hux.

“I didn’t think you’d care before, and once we’d begun our planning it was irrelevant,” Kylo asserted. “We would be victorious or we would both die.”

Kylo shook the bottle and offered it to Hux again. “Finish it.” He stated. Hux did.

“I suppose,” he said, tossing the bottle into the fire. There was barely a sputter of flame. All that remained of Snoke’s citadel and everything it contained was a mass of embers, smoking into the night. Hux leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, letting his hair fall into his face. The sweat from running around the citadel to destroy every last inch had compromised the gel. With a sigh he pushed himself to his feet. He offered a hand to Kylo. Kylo grasped it and stood himself, the world wobbling for a moment. He studied himself and looked at Hux.

There was a sheen of sweat across his forehead, and ash smeared across his cheeks, but for the first time outside of their quarters Hux had a smile in his eyes. Kylo smiled back and draped his arm over Hux’s shoulder.

“To Supreme Leader Hux!” Kylo laughed.

“Oh shut it,” Hux stated, a blush rising in his cheeks as they walked back to Kylo’s Command Shuttle.  


End file.
